CenturyLink Jumps Into PaaS Fray With AppFog Purchase

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CenturyLink has acquired AppFog Inc. as cloud providers race to also offer capabilities to software developers.

AppFog specializes in Platform-as-a-Service, or PaaS, a shared, scalable application development and deployment platform delivered as a service. Typically, database, middleware, management, security and integration capabilities all are included in a PaaS product.

CenturyLink is putting AppFog in its Savvis Cloud portfolio; the company said AppFog is used by more than 100,000 developers who have deployed more than 150,000 applications. CenturyLink will add AppFog to the savvisdirect online channel, and offer private, dedicated deployments to Savvis enterprise customers.

“Combining AppFog’s market-leading Platform-as-a-Service capabilities with Savvis’…Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud services and CenturyLink’s global network will enable developers to securely and reliably operate and connect the applications they build and deploy,” said Jeff Von Deylen, president of CenturyLink’s Savvis organization.

Portland, Ore.-based AppFog was privately held, so CenturyLink did not reveal how much it spent for the new purchase. Lucas Carlson, who was CEO of AppFog, joins Savvis as vice president, cloud evangelist.